Flagler Deputy County Administrator Sally Sherman’s “retirement” is an extreme example of double-dipping and an end-run around a law that requires retirees not to work at their old agency for at least a year.
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The Lord Before the Storms: Flagler Emergency Management Chief Wants Awareness, Not Fear
Jonathan Lord, Flagler County’s new emergency management chief, has been putting his vast state and local experience to work in preparation for hurricane season.
Billionaire Investor Jeff Greene Becomes 5th Florida Democrat In Race For Governor
Greene, 63, who lives in Palm Beach two doors down from President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2010.
Flagler Sheriff’s Budget For 2018-19 Would Go Up $3.8 Million, Largest In Over a Decade
The surge is driven by another increase in sheriff’s deputies, and would bring the total number of new deputies to 22 in two years. The county commission is not objecting.
Domestic Violence’s Overlooked Damage: Concussion And Brain Injury
Survivors of domestic violence may be suffering largely in silence from the same traumatic brain injuries, memory loss and PTSD seen in veterans and athletes.
Legalizing Recreational Pot Key Issue For Florida Democrats’ Gubernatorial Candidates
John Morgan calls recreational weed a make-or-break issue for Democratic candidates seeking to replace outgoing Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
Tammy Almond Charged With Manslaughter in Shooting Death of Darryl Wilson, 56
Tammy Almond, 43, of 12 East Palm Street in Bunnell, was charged with manslaughter with a firearm in the shooting death of Darryl Wilson at a North Bacher Street house.
A Man Is Shot and Killed on North Bacher Street in Bunnell, Apparently By Girlfriend
A woman shot and killed a man at 705 North Bacher Street in Bunnell this evening around 7:30 p.m. The man died of a gunshot wound to the head.
Life In Prison For William Schwarz, Drunk Driver Who Killed Kathy and Carl Boos in Flagler Beach
The sentence against William Schwarz was extraordinarily harsh, but also driven by his very lengthy record of drunk driving and other criminal arrests.
In Her Own Words: Flagler Sheriff’s Detective Reveals Anguish and Fears Over Sick
Building in Plea For Urgency
An internal sheriff’s investigation uncovers a three-page letter Detective Annie Conrad wrote Sheriff Rick Staly, urging that employees’ concerns of a potentially sick building be taken seriously.
Flagler Property Values Rise 7.5%, Best Since Recession, But Government Revenue Faces Shock
Higher values ease pressure on government revenue but a potential increase in the homestead exemption would reduce revenue by millions, absent tax hikes.
Florida Prisons Proposal To Cut Visitation Hours In Half Draws Outrage and Pleas
Visits help cut recidivism and keep families close, as recognized even by state law, but Florida prison officials are looking to cut costs.
Clarence Murphy Is Sentenced To Life In Prison, No Parole, In Murder of Cousin Ahmad Laster
Clarence Murphy Jr. shot his cousin Ahmed Rashad Laster on Palm Coast’s Parkview Drive last September during an argument, and soon confessed.
Marineland’s Latest Adventure Rededicates Iconic Arch to Memories Past and Future
Marineland’s arches are stamped in the memory of the town and its millions of visitors through the years, and today one of the iconic arches was reopened and dedicated.
Flagler’s and DSC’s Education Chiefs Talk Bunkers, Breweries, Graduation and Jobs
Superintendent Jim Tager, Flagler Technical Institute Director Renee Stauffacher, and Daytona State College President Tom LoBasso were the featured speakers an education breakfast.
County’s Reply To Sheriff on Sick Building: We’ll Get Back To You On That
The Flagler County administration in an unsigned statement said the county was hiring an engineer to further study the sheriff’s potentially sick operations center.
John Ward’s Insult To Puerto Ricans
John Ward is a GOP candidate for the congressional that includes Flagler. He doesn’t think Puerto Rican storm refugees–American citizens, all–should register to vote in Florida. He’s wrong.
Just 3 Applicants For Palm Coast Council’s Nobile Seat; All 3 To Be Interviewed Tuesday
Charles Johnson, a retired Sea Ray Boats employee, attorney Vincent Lyon and Robert Thomasey, a retired electrician, are the three applicants to fill out the six months remaining on Steven Nobile’s term.
Calling It an Unsafe “Albatross,” Sheriff Demands Immediate Relocation Out of Sick Building For Dozens of Employees
Unequivocally referring to the Operations Center as a sick building, Sheriff Rick Staly made the demand for alternate space to County Administrator Craig Coffey, who pushed to buy the old hospital in 2013 and convert it.
County Defends $284,000 Tourism Website Deal and Commissioners Are Mollified
County Administrator Craig Coffey and tourism officials put commissioners’ questions about the expense of a website to rest with 75 minutes of details and only a few straw men.
Yes, You May Smoke It: Judge Rules Florida’s Ban on Smoking Medical Marijuana Unconstitutional
Judge Karen Gievers found that a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2016 gives eligible patients the right to smoke the treatment in private.
Voices From the Grave
Maj. Sullivan Ballou’s Last Letter to His Wife
Maj. Sullivan Ballou’s letter to his wife, written a week before he was killed at Bull Run in 1861, is one of the great eulogies of sorrow and divided duty to nation and family. As a memorial to the victims of war, who include survivors, especially civilians, the letter has few equals.
Flagler Government Spent $1 Million on 3 Websites Since 2010, Wants $300,000 More In Next 4 Years
Flagler County government wants to spend $284,000 on a tourism website over the next four years. It has already spent $1 million on three websites in the past nine.
Daytona State Students Will See No Tuition Increase in 2018-19, Some Adjustments to Fees
For the 2018-2019 academic year that begins in August, Daytona State College once again plans to hold the line on tuition, with a zero-tuition increase for its 27,000 students.
Sales Tax ‘Holiday’ For Disaster-Preparedness Supplies Set For June 1-7 Across Florida
Expanded from three days last year, the tax holiday has drawn added attention after Florida experienced hurricanes in 2016 and 2017 after a decade’s calm.
Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison, F-Section Arsonist Leaves Judge Craig Puzzled By ‘Senselessness’
Circuit Judge Dennis Craig spoke heartfully and at length of the senselessness of 29-year-old Vitaly Tsabak’s burning of a family home before sentencing him to what proved to be a remarkably lenient 20-year term.
Yet Another Storm Brews With Heavy Rains–and Hurricane Season on Horizon
A massive storm over the Yucatan Peninsula may drench Florida over Memorial Day weekend, days before the start of another hurricane season.
Man Injured In Single-Vehicle Rollover on U.S. 1 Just South of White Eagle Lounge
An older man was injured and entrapped shortly before noon today when his vehicle rolled over and ended on its roof on U.S. 1’s southbound lanes just sough of the White Eagle Lounge.
To Protect Public Use of Private Beachfronts, Flagler Calls on Memories of
Long-Timers’ Customs
To ward off a new state law potentially allowing private property owners to fence off beach sands, the Flagler County Commission is enacting an ordinance to preserve public use and forbid fencing.
Adding To Recent Woes, Embry-Riddle Training Plane Loses a Door Over Flagler
A Diamond DA-42, a twin-engine plane manufactured in 2016, was flying over the south end of the county when it lost the door in a near-repeat of a 2013 incident.
Brushing Aside 1st Amendment Claim, Appeals Court Uphold Florida Ban on a Prison Magazine
Florida alone among 50 states bans Prison Legal News. Paul Wright, the publisher of the magazine, intends to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Flagler Fire Services Get Boost and 8th Ambulance With Heritage-Preserving Transfer of Bunnell Fire Station
Bunnell’s Fire Department no longer exists, but a Bunnell fire station lives on, improved, under county auspices, with better response times and expanded countywide services.
Palm Coast’s Opelka Wins Pro Tennis Title in France, 2nd on Circuit
Opelka previously defeated former Top 10 player Ernests Gulbis in the semifinals, and now has a lot of momentum heading into French Open qualifying.
Flagler Government Wants $284,000 Contract For Tourism Website Revamp
The proposal never went before the Tourist Development Council. The county administrator says the $284,000 cost will actually be less than the existing contract.
For Sheriff’s Detective Annie Conrad, Flagler Officer Of the Year, Grim Duty Defined By Compassion
Flagler Sheriff’s Detective Annie Conrad, a 14-year veteran, played a central role in the conviction of Dorothy Singer in the killing of Singer’s husband.
FPL Will Reimburse Customers Modest Amount Following Overcharge For Matthew Recovery
For a residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month, the credit would amount to $3.18, to be credited in a future bill.
Israel’s Mass Shootings
You can always depend on Israel periodically to mass-murder bunches of Arabs in proportions as lopsided and unforgiving as our own mass shootings in the U.S., then scapegoat the bloodletting.
Dorothy Singer Found Guilty of Murdering Her Husband Charles; She Is Immediately Sentenced To Life In Prison
The jury did not buy Dorothy Singer’s claim of self-defense when contrasted with the huge web of lies she fabricated after killing her husband Charles in West Flagler.
Kimberle Weeks, Ex-Elections Supervisor Who ‘Decimated This Community,’ Sentenced to 1 Month in Jail and 18 Months’ Probation
The felony conviction of Kimberle Weeks is the culmination of a three-year case that ended the political career of the most divisive constitutional officer in Flagler County in recent memory.
Construction Brisk in Flagler and Palm Coast, Prompting Glimmers of Steady Boomlet
Brisk construction activity in Palm Coast and Flagler is sending building inspections soaring, reflecting healthy but not boom-like activity in the sector.
Dorothy Singer Murder Trial Day 3: Unearthing Details of a Killing and Its Elaborate Cover-Up
The prosecution today focused on the five shots that killed Charles Singer and the three months of cover-ups his wife Dorothy concocted until her arrest.
In Latest Victory For Dog Owners, Court Rejects Flagler’s Appeal on ‘Dangerous’ Ruling
The labrador that bit an 8-year-old Flagler County boy in the face three years ago will not have to be termed dangerous, and the long legal case appears closed.
In Lawsuit, Pam Bondi Accuses Pill Manufacturers of Causing Opioid Crisis
Bondi filed a civil suit accusing five of the nation’s largest opioid manufacturers and four distributors of causing the opioid crisis that is killing an average 15 Floridians daily.
Lucille Horton Acquitted In Death of Husband In Grand Haven Vehicular Homicide Case
Lucille Horton was accused of throwing off her husband Richard Resnicoff, who’d sat on her car’s trunk, during a domestic dispute in 2013, leading to Resnicoff’s death after he hit the pavement.
Matanzas Golf Group Files for Bankruptcy, But Palm Coast Ownership Faces Numerous Hurdles
Palm Coast government does not control the Matanzas golf course property, which is now tied up in bankruptcy court. The city is not assured of controlling the property once hurdles are cleared.
Flagler School Board Unanimously Approves 13 Deputies in Schools, Ending Tiff With Sheriff
The $1.8 million agreement almost splits costs between the sheriff and the school board and doubles the number of deputies in schools in the first post-Parkland massacre contract.
On Trial For Husband’s Murder, Dorothy Singer’s Own Words and Fabrications Dig Deep Grave
Dorothy Singer, accused of murdering and burying her husband in their west-Flagler backyard, wove a web of lies to detectives and friends to explain her husband’s disappearance, as the jury heard today.
At Flagler Sheriff’s Ceremony For Fallen Officers, Feeling Pain Of ‘Loss Across the Nation’
Fagler County’s five fallen deputies over the years were recognized Monday evening, and the sheriff’s tactical center was renamed after Sheriff Homer Brooks.
Court Upholds Shifting Burden of Proof to Prosecution in Stand Your Ground Cases
With backing from the NRA the Legislature in 2017 shifted the burden from defendants to prosecutors to prove whether self-defense claims are justified.
Flagler Beach Cool To Contributing Money, Palm Coast-Style, For Schools’ Resource Deputies
Palm Coast pays for an extra school resource deputy to defray the school board’s and sheriff’s costs, but Flagler Beach is reluctant to do likewise for now.